I first ran across this man’s amazing collection a little over two weeks ago when looking at pictures of cool “game rooms” on Videogame collectors.com. What struck me as most unique about this collection was the sheer volume of games and the fact that they almost entirely covered all the walls and the floor of an entire room. After posting a note about the collection on my blog, word of this massive collection quickly spread around the Internet, unfortunately toppling the Videogamecollectors.com site under the heavy weight of intense visitor traffic shortly thereafter…from which it has still not yet recovered (oops!).

Fascinated by the collection, I managed to track down its owner (who wishes to be known publicly only as “videogamecollector”) and conduct an email interview with him. Well, I attempted to, anyway. He’s a bit reclusive (answering only 10 of 17 questions asked), and not exactly a master at typing the English language (I’ve had to clean up his answers quite a bit), but he was kind enough to provide a nice little window, however small, into his unique world. He also sent me some new pictures of his collection, which are displayed throughout the interview below. And for sheer completeness, I’m also providing some of the original collection pictures (from Videogamecollectors.com) at the end of the interview. (Note: Be a pal and please link to this article, not directly to the images. Thanks!) And now, on with the show.

Update (03/30/2006): I just posted an interview with one of the collector’s best friends, which reads more like this original interview should have. He sheds a lot more light on the mystery collector. Check it out here.

Vintage Computing and Gaming: Thanks for agreeing to the interview. A lot of people have seen your impressive video game collection as linked from my blog recently and are eager to know more about it. First off, what do you do for a living?Videogamecollector: Collect video games, for now.

VC&G: About how many games do you have in your collection? Have you ever counted all of them precisely?VGC: I’m not sure if I really want to know.

VC&G: What has driven you to collect so many games?VGC: It seems to be the rush of finding something I don’t have. Or you can call it my addiction.

VC&G: How many game systems (physical console units) do you have, including duplicates?VCG: Again, I’m not sure — gotta get rid of those duplicates.

VC&G: What parts of your collection are you most proud of? [i.e. complete SNES game library, all RPG games for Saturn, etc] Also, what are some of the rarest items in your collection?VGC: Gotta think this one over for a few weeks.

VC&G: What are your collecting goals? For example, are you simply trying to collect every game ever made, or do you focus on label variations, all games for a particular system, game genres (RPGs, fighting games), etc.?VGC: My goal is to get the games on my want list and sell all my variations and doubles.

VC&G: Do you have a database or a list of all your games so you can keep track of them better? Or perhaps a system for storing them so you know where everything is?VGC: I had a list of everything, and I’m now redoing my lists.

VC&G: Your collection seems to take up a lot of space. Where is the collection located? Is it in your basement? Have you ever had to physically move your entire collection?VGC: Yes, everthing is in the basement. I’ve never had to move everything yet.

VC&G: How long did it take you to amass your video game collection?VGC: 16+ years.

VC&G: Do you know of anyone on Earth with a larger video game collection?VGC: There are a few collectors online that have more, I think. Not sure though.

VC&G: Is the young boy in your collection pictures your son? If so, what does he think of your collection and video games in general? Do you ever let him play any of your games?VGC: Yes, my son plays games. He has a few hundred games in his room that he plays.

VC&G: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me.VGC: Thanks.

Do you have or know of a video game collection bigger than this one? If so, drop me an email!

And now, as promised, here are the original images [Note: Be a pal and please link to this article, not directly to the images. Thanks!]:

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And I thought I had lots of games.. this is pretty * unbeleivable! Just try to imagin yourself how much money the guy invested in there.. I’m not sure “invested” would be the good word to use though. 🙂

Yeah, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a pretty bad interview. 🙂 But at least the world knows that somebody tried to ask him about it, instead of being completely in the dark about who the mystery man behind the collection is (ok, so maybe not much more light has been shed on him). I told him I wouldn’t give out his real name, but I will tell you that he lives in Canada. I’ve also heard from one of his friends that he runs a video game booth at a local flea market on the weekends. So that explains a lot about this mess ‘o’ games.

Indeed…indeed. I do know from his friend that he does actually collect games though, intending to make a set of at least one of every game for every system (or something similar). The collector himself didn’t say as much, but then again, he didn’t say much anyway. His friend called him “eccentric” and doubted that he would ever reply to my emails in the first place, so I guess it’s no big surprise. 🙂

That “Canada” shirt… could he be Canadian? If so, that makes his collection more impressive, because when I went to Canada, I shit my pants when I saw how expensive games where! Aside from the exchange rate problem, tax is high as well. Animal Crossing: WW was like $50 CAD over there. It would also explain his English, is he’s of French descent.
Also, I noticed there were more mom and pop stores and game traders, so if he runs one, that may explain how he’s amassed such a collection.
What’s sad is, he’s probably played about 10%-20%… well, more than fifteen minutes. I’m a collector myself, and I can’t keep up every knew release; with work, family, and other responsibilities, it’s hard to find the time.

I have just recently (2 years) been getting into collecting video games, but this is insane! I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of money in his basement. The fact he does this for s living(flea market) and the amount of duplicates leads me to also believe this is also a bit of a storage/stockroom (as mentioned by nibbles) for his sales booth. He best have a good insurance policy…a flood or fire would be devestating! A total replacement value would be sweet…maybe we should start a pool!

well redwolf if you can give us his ip or paste the email headers u got a reply from(if u ever emailed with him) i can probably look into finding who the guy is/where he lives etc as i am from quebec too, and with a lot of resources.

Before the advent of the internet, we could take solace in only suspecting that people like this existed.
This is not to say that I have any sort of problem with people with massive video game collections, I just think it’s a little disturbing to…

FYI – Here are the questions I asked that the collector didn’t answer:

1. Where are you from?

5. How many of your games are unique and not duplicates?

12. About how much money do you think you’ve spent on your video game collection?

14. Some people might think your collection is a little excessive. How would you respond to that?

15. Do you have a wife or girlfriend, and if so, what does she think of your collection? What do your friends and relatives think?

17. Pictures of your collection have spread around the net pretty quickly since I linked to your game room page on videogamecollectors.com. Is there anything else you’d like to mention to our readers or have them keep in mind while viewing your collection?

Good article. The light grey text on a black background is very difficult to read (so I almost didn’t). I’m not sure what the point of the color selection is but for most people, if they can’t read it, they won’t.

Well Fred, that isn’t my color selection. The site is currently being inundated with many thousands of people attemping to view the pictures at the same time, so the page loading is slow. What happened for you is that the background image for the text area (which is mostly white, by the way), failed to load because of a slow response from the server. I have since changed the default non-image background color with white (from transparent) so people should no longer have that problem. Thanks for your comment.

That’s a great looking collection! The question I’d like answered is whether he has a normal single-format addiction (like only NTSC) or if the habit’s gone full blown rock star and he’s got full sets in PAL, SECAM, etc as well? Bravo!

I think it’s cool that he will not tell any more about himself. I know if i suddenly became popular because of something like that and i could keep who i was a secret i would. I don’t want a bunch of people to come knocking on my door wanting to see my game collection. BTW i think it’s an uber cool collection of games, keep it up unknown man with the collection in the basement!

amazing collection, but why in the blue hell does this guy have a crappy ass TV? seriously, if I had all that gaming stuff, I would HAVE to have a kickass TV or even three to play them on, and that’s no joke.

I am a small time collector myself. However, I fail to understand why would someone have 2 copies of Men of Valor, 2 copies of Tony Hawk’s Undergroung, 2 copies of some sports (like MLB etc) 2003; specially if these did not come in the different covers.

You may not be able to read the titles, but you can see the patterns and realize that he has more than 1 copies of some games.

I think it is just an online store or a small used gaming store, tryin to get famous in cyberspace.

JPSNagi: If he’s collecting via eBay auctions, then odds are good he’s bought large lots of games, though he only needed a handful of the titles in the lot. Would lead to a lot of dupes if he hasn’t had time to go back and resell those (though he indicated he wanted to rid himself of duplicates.

Forget the TV, god, he likely plays upstairs. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be enclosed in that basement. He’s got games on the floor! Running out of room as it is, how would he fit in an entertainment center?!

[…] Shall we play a game? – the story: A week ago Vintage Computing posted a link to a photo gallery featuring pictures of an insanely large video game collection. Here’s an interview (attempt anyway) with the guy who owns the collection. […]

How many of you, if you had a collection of this size would advertise an open house viewing? Think about it, how many of you would even say anything about it, for fear of becoming a target.
No he is not French-
He has a 60″ bigscreen upstairs
the pics you see are of his collection- not his stockroom
he does collect a lot of import, including over 1300 Super Fam, a ton of Brazilian games, Pal variations, name it he’s had it at one time or another.
Most of you big collectors out there have bought games from him at one time or another- whether it be on the old newsgroups 10 years ago or on E-bay since it started.
This is what he does. I collect, videogames were even a business for me at one time, now only a hobby. But this is what he does- all he does. And it seems to work out pretty good for him.
He operates a booth at a flea market on Saturdays and Sundays, during the week he game hunts and ebays games.
Don’t be envious- it is hard work to accomplish what he has. Be happy that he is willing to share it with the world. There are other huge collections out there that will never see the press that this one has. It took me a long time to get him to post pics- a lot of the pics were taken by me. I still am in awe everytime I visit him- and he is one of my best friends.

Good call, jb, I was just about to post along those lines. Having done some work with broadcast video, that does indeed look like a studio monitor, Between the shabby appearance, the barely-visible badging on the side, cheesy single speaker and the plexi cover over the tube it does look that way.

HoUzEr, basically, they’re tv sets with greater line resolution that standard televisions, and high quality control, basically the equivalent of high-end displats that print designers use that can be color-calibrated, etc. The picture may wind up looking like crap on someone’s Rad-Shack squeakbox, but it’s not leaving the studio looking like that, dammit.

The other feature that they have is the ability to accomodate odd video formats, for example, 24p in modern ones, and quite a few of them can take both NTSC and PAL, which is why I could see him having one. That one looks a bit out of date, but it would likely have to be; a new 19-inch studio monitor can easily run you $2000-$5000, depending on features. And that was prior to HDTV. Used ones go for much less. And they all look like total trash, except for the TV picture.

Of course, it could just be some Sampo-brand Canuck TV from the 80’s, too. But it could also have cost more than your new 1080i HDTV.

[…] I’m sure you guys have all seen the room with thousands of video games in it. This man has possibly the largest collection of video games, that he has ammased over the past 16 years. I was scoping around and I found an interview with him. It’s pretty interesting. Read up on it! […]

[…] To quote vintagecomputing: “What struck me as most unique about this collection was the sheer volume of games and the fact that they almost entirely covered all the walls and the floor of an entire room.” Quickly bookmark “What happens when you get addicted to collecting videogames?” via: […]

Just to let you guys know, not all Canadians speak French. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I speak very little French – and I only learned what I know is because I was required to in school. Once I was able to choose courses in high school, I never took the subject again.

In Quebec though, you’re more likely to encounter pure French-speakers. But again, not everyone in Canada speaks French. It’s just because we’re a bilingual country.

As well, not all games are expensive – yeah it’s a higher cost to us because of the exchange rate, but in reality, it’s still the same price – just different currency. And remember, our dollar was recently better than yours.

Good job on the interview. When i first heard about it i thought someone just took a few picture inside a store, store room or something and called it a video game collection but that’s really impresive there.

Very nice collection. Good for you NESVIDIOT. People really just don`t appreciate what some people can`t get their hands on. I have large collection myself, maybe about 3 of his shelves full, been collecting for 7 years now.

Also one more thing. I assume you guys still hunt those games.? If so here`s a wicked site I got alot off here at one point. Craigslist.org or kijiji.ca. I am in canada myself, not to far from you guys. I would like to shake both of youre hands for doing such a fine collectiong job.

“I applaud that collection & youre friend for filling us in on a little info”

hey, i am a big fan of the microsoft and sony platforms along with the wii and i have a collection of about 2000 if you add all of the platforms together but them photos make mine look so small and such a little amount it is unbelievable, he must have about 10000 games lol 😀

The kid in the picktures is in the middle of a room with “The Largest Videogame Collection Ever In This And Any Other Worlds”.. AND HE PLAYS WITH TOY CARS!?!?!?!?

This is strange.. This collection was posted on http://www.videogamecollectors.com, with the owner’s comment and everything, but since these images were posted anywhere in the Net, his collection was removed from the site.. Weird.. Anyway, I have just 2 words to say:

all i can say is DAMN you got a collection that will beat mines ass bad left for dead in a gutter all i have is about 60 and thats ps1 ps2 xbox xbox360 Nintendo regular 64 and super so hats off to you
also i got leisure suit Larry that game was hard to find and you got it most likely you do really then really congrats

WOW! My husband and I have a HUGE collection, but this one beats our hands down! I am amazed and humbled! What an inspiration! Our collection covers the original pong to present, We have literally thousands of games and hundreds of systems and we have the complete N64 set….but this? Is just mind blowing! Thanks for the pics, they are awesome!

Wow. Very impressive. Whats really impressive though, is this collection has been going on for 16 years. He has never had to move it. So this guy must be doing good and own his house. Either that or still living with Ma. There’s really no point in owning games you don’t like to play, or never play. What is so cool in owning sooo many games, if someone was to ask “What is that game about?” “I don’t know, but I own it.” Yea thats coo.

You guys are RIDICULOUS…like, honestly…why is it so hard to believe that someone has an outrageous massive video collection like this….someone that clearly states, he deals in flea markets on weekends and is probably the guy with the ‘nice’ video gaming booth. And then, spends mon-fri ebay-ing and hunting rare games he wants online…he probably finds good deals and buys rare games in bulk, then sells the extra copies of them for a higher price and that’s one of many ways he probably makes decent cash. EXAMPLE—He probably gets a ton of dumb drug addict kids who want a quick buck for drugs, like they probly bring him o idk,,, lets say mega man x3. and dont know wat its worth…and he probly goes, o heres 10 bones for it! and the kids good with it like SCORE haha peace old man! lol and doesnt realize he just lost over a hundred dollars…..like i SAID, this guy does this everyday of the week for 16years, this has probably happened veryy many times and is why he is more than able to do this, and probly is rich. and not to mention….VIDEO GAME COLLECTING has only recently got real big and 16 years ago when this guy was going crazy, everyone else was throwing out they’re old systems and games seeing no fiscal value at the time,continuing the process of buying then throwing out or selling for next to nothing about 5 generations of consoles….(he probly was buying all that off people for next to nothing) and now that collecting has gotten big, guess what? this guy is experience and 16 years ahead of all the slackers. hes beyond the entire premise of video game collecting itself…..and that is the truth. its sad that so many of you look for the o yeah right, this is a warehouse….do warehouses have copies of every video game made with kids running around? no yah dar dars…dont be stupid. i worked in a warehouse and games are always just in bins and all over the place. and only the new games are stocked and then sent out, and you never see them again. no my friends, this is a collection. and if your too dumb to tell it is, you can go suck on some camel toe bro.

btw- lol this is the coolest collection ever and all anyone talks about is the shitty old tv in the corner…like dumbass, its his basement. he admitted that…. hmmm i wonder, do you have anything old in your basement? HAHA. YEAH EXACTLY! this guys basement is crisp catigorized and more clean then any basement ever seen. compare it to yours….and it has one old actually reely cool retro tv, and thats all yall notice. grow a brain rats.

How do you sell a huge video game collection like this? My collection includes 1000’s of games for Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, SNES, Saturn, Playstation, 3DO, Jaguar, Jaguar CD, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Virtual Boy, Game Boy Advance, and lots of imports as well. I bought everything new back in the day, and it’s all in pristine condition with manuals. All the CD’s are in jewel cases without the original inserts, and all the carts are loose except for Genesis & 32X. I’m sure lots of people would love to buy it all from me, but who could actually afford to? They’d have to come get it too, I’m not shipping all that stuff! I have all the systems, controllers, accessories, etc., and only my Jaguar CD & Game Gear are non functional. Tons of extreme rarities in my collection, most of it is all rare now. It all just sits in cardboard boxes gathering dust and taking up space. Make me an offer?

More power to him if he enjoys it.. But, something that I’ve never really understood about massive video game collections like this is: maybe, MAYBE, 1/10th of the games he has are actually worth playing.

I’m more interested in playing/collecting games that are, you know, good, as opposed to just accumulating an inordinate cache of games.